It bothers me that they're going to this much effort after cyclists given that they're a minority on the road, but nonetheless, cyclists should be no exception the speed no matter what time of day. Two pieces of rubber and a 23mm rim aren't going to slow down as quick as a vehicle but on the other hand, you'll have guys going for those strava times

that sounds like basic common sense to me. a couple of square centimetres of rubber contact patch doesn't give you much margin for error, and downhill segments just reward the lardiest, biggest, heaviest, and stupidest in any case.

trailgumby wrote: downhill segments just reward the lardiest, biggest, heaviest, and stupidest in any case.

I'm one of those big lardy guys, whilst I agree that there is a time & place for going fast, there is also quite a skill in decending safely.

To make a blanket claim that anyone who is not a climber

trailgumby wrote: biggest, heaviest, and stupidest

, stinks of a degree of arrogance, my background is track sprinting & some downhill MTB racing, so I'm never going to be a greyhound like climber, but I think that I pretty much know what limits are & can usually descend quicker than any of my riding buddies who excel in climbing, to be very quick downhill requires a skill in bike control, braking technique & weight distribution, just like climbing, it is a skill.

Thanks Wal for your post....I have pondered over TG's response, if you look at the Strava leader boards for the descent on Coottha there are some seasoned riders listed there...far from the heaviest etc riders!

Idiots try to to fang it down steep slopes. Hell, even I would rather attack the hill going up than down. 'cos just like a bicyclist, it is far easier to come off the front going down hill and the result far worse than coming off going uphill.

And besides, as others have suggested, it is not much of a measure of athletic ability.

(Remembering now, I had just such an idiot friend who travelled east, got a nice new CF bike when they really were a big and not common deal. And successfully destroyed a beautiful piece of machinery by ridin git downhill well outside of it's design parameters and his ability.

Last time I spoke to him there was no certainty that he would not have some lifelong disabilities.

I don't ride Coot tha very often, it is quite easy for me to exceed 80kph on the downhill run, I don't think that speed on that stretch of road is safe, UNLESS it is closed for an event.

Doing much over 70kph on a normal road (at most times), I think is dangerous, you have to be well aware of traction limits of your tyres (you'll easily lock a wheel before you'll exceed the abilities of your brakes, most of the time) & the minimium braking distance that your setup will manage before attempting any very high speed descents.

Watch any pro tour race & you'll see the better descenders doing some phenomenal speeds, in an Australian Masters road race event one year, we were exceeding 100kph on a section of road (closed course), nobody crashed. Besides me, I don't think anybody could have been termed 'lardy, big, heavy OR stupid'.

My point is that you can do things safely, or you can do things unsafely, to make a blanket statement is incorrect, most big, heavy riders probably don't ride up Coot tha anyway as it's way too much hard work, this is probably why most of the record holders are the fitter more professional riders.

Yeah, just for a change I took the bait from one of the myriad of online 'experts', maybe I should just treat them with the level of respect they deserve.

Wal42 wrote:I don't ride Coot tha very often, it is quite easy for me to exceed 80kph on the downhill run, I don't think that speed on that stretch of road is safe, UNLESS it is closed for an event.

Doing much over 70kph on a normal road (at most times), I think is dangerous, you have to be well aware of traction limits of your tyres (you'll easily lock a wheel before you'll exceed the abilities of your brakes, most of the time) & the minimium braking distance that your setup will manage before attempting any very high speed descents.

Watch any pro tour race & you'll see the better descenders doing some phenomenal speeds, in an Australian Masters road race event one year, we were exceeding 100kph on a section of road (closed course), nobody crashed. Besides me, I don't think anybody could have been termed 'lardy, big, heavy OR stupid'.

My point is that you can do things safely, or you can do things unsafely, to make a blanket statement is incorrect, most big, heavy riders probably don't ride up Coot tha anyway as it's way too much hard work, this is probably why most of the record holders are the fitter more professional riders.

Yeah, just for a change I took the bait from one of the myriad of online 'experts', maybe I should just treat them with the level of respect they deserve.

What ARE you doing Wal? Your post was made during daylight hours! You should be riding!

Yes we should obey the road rules, no it's not likely to happen. Coming down the front side at speed is the whole reason one climbs Cootha.

Be careful, be safe and be mindful of other road users. It's all fairly straight forward. If you bend the rules a little bit, so be it. But be aware of the consequences.

On the Strava front, I'm not convinced downhill segments are any more dangerous than long river loop segments or similar. I know guys whyo scream round blind corners, through intersections and stop signs with little care for other road users. At least the Cootha downhill segments are usually fairly quiet and predictable. Coming down, say, Dornoch Tce at full pelt is more dangerous I think.

Strava is an excellent tool for training and motivation, but idiots will be idiots.

master6 wrote:What ARE you doing Wal? Your post was made during daylight hours! You should be riding!

I'm on holidays, I'm trying the 'not riding because I'm on holiday's thing', rode a few days last week, got back from hunting trip last night, so today is day 5 straight of not riding, have to admit, I'm getting somewhat edgy. In the last 30 years, I think 3 days straight is the most I've not ridden, not sure what the legs will be like when I ride.

GTRmon7 wrote:Yes we should obey the road rules, no it's not likely to happen. Coming down the front side at speed is the whole reason one climbs Cootha.

Be careful, be safe and be mindful of other road users. It's all fairly straight forward. If you bend the rules a little bit, so be it. But be aware of the consequences.

On the Strava front, I'm not convinced downhill segments are any more dangerous than long river loop segments or similar. I know guys whyo scream round blind corners, through intersections and stop signs with little care for other road users. At least the Cootha downhill segments are usually fairly quiet and predictable. Coming down, say, Dornoch Tce at full pelt is more dangerous I think.

Strava is an excellent tool for training and motivation, but idiots will be idiots.

+1, well said..and before Strava people still tried to push it on downhills...

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